Tuesday, February 9, 2016

Happy New Hampshire primary day! And now, some happenings in ol' Carolina:

1. Poll positions: A new High Point University Poll of 478 likely Democratic primary voters and 477 likely Republicans in that category pretty much tells us what we already know: Here in North Carolina, we love Hillary and The Donald.

Well, maybe not so much The Donald as we used to:

On the Republican side, 26 percent of likely primary voters said they would support Donald Trump, while Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Marco Rubio of Florida received support from 22 and 20 percent, respectively. Fourth place went to Ben Carson, who received support from nine percent of the likely Republican primary voters. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, and Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky have suspended their campaigns, but remain on the North Carolina primary ballot.

Donald Trump is clutching a narrow lead in North Carolina’s GOP presidential primary, according to a new poll.

And as Trump probably thinks: "How stupid is North Carolina?" Hey, pal, you just leave it to us to ponder that question!

One Dem side, Hillary is still crushing Bernie:

The survey of likely Democratic primary voters found that a majority (55 percent) support Secretary Clinton, and 29 percent favor Sen. Sanders. The other two candidates on the ballot – former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley and California businessman Rocky De La Fuente – received virtually no support. Gov. O’Malley suspended his campaign after the Iowa Caucuses on Feb. 1, during the administration of the HPU Poll.

2. Some explaining to do: That'll be the task of every GOP candidate running for office this year, as government reports continue to suggest that the ACA, aka "Obamacare," is actually, you know, doing what it's supposed to do: Get people insured.

Eight states saw a significant drop last year in the number of residents going without health insurance, according to a government report out Tuesday that has implications for the presidential campaign.

All but Florida had accepted a Medicaid expansion that is one of two major pathways to coverage under President Barack Obama's health care law. The law's other coverage route is subsidized private insurance, available in all 50 states.

Here's where it gets rubbed in:

GOP presidential candidates are vowing to repeal "Obamacare," while offering hardly any detail on how they'd replace it without millions losing coverage.

Politically, the eight states with statistically significant coverage gains in the National Health Interview Survey are a mix of red, blue and purple. They are Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, and New York. Five have GOP governors.

In the report, North Carolina joins a group of 10 "second tier" states that show notable, but not statistically significant drops in the uninsured. Maybe that'll give Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin a reason to cool his jets a little bit, and maybe not.

3. Just the worst: There's never a bad day to express your abhorrence for evangelical demon seed Franklin Graham, who is likely one of the top reasons you may hesitate before answering in the affirmative, whenever someone asks, "Are you from North Carolina?"

In Franklin’s febrile world, Jesus is an especially eager hall monitor, vigilantly studying bathroom passes lest the wrong sort accidentally wander into the heavenly accommodations in search of a little relief. Jesus, on a reading of Franklin Graham’s (Facebook) theology, roams about enthusiastically in search of an ever-widening crowd of bad-choosers with whom to be disappointed.

So, it’s a good thing God’s number one rent-a-cop is on the case. Otherwise, all those grabby LGBTQ people might find a little dignity (and Lord knows, that’s the last thing Jesus would want). Just the other day on his Facebook page the Reverend Graham set his sights on the new Mayor of Charlotte. It seems that she had the temerity to urge the City Council to take another look at a Nondiscrimination Ordinance, which would add sexual orientation and gender identity as protected classes.

Here's a little advice for all the sincere Facebook fans of Graham out there: Unfollow.

4. NC's "Little Flint": A commissioner from a small, mostly African-American NC town has invited the Democratic presidential candidates to come and see what environmental racism looks like, in the form of a "terrible water system."

Princeville, a small, majority African-American town, grew from a settlement of freed slaves in Edgecombe County. The town has struggled over the years, and Commissioner Milton Bullock is calling Sanders and Clinton in for an “‘up close and personal assessment’ of our deplorable predicament.”

On Sunday, Clinton visited Flint, MI, where contaminated water has caused lead poisoning in some children.